死の受容のかたち : がん告知の問題から

抄録

In recent years, with the spreading thought of "the right to know" and "self-determination", it seems that more Japanese people want to be told of their diagnosis of cancer. So a growing number of Japanese doctors tell their patients that they are suffering from cancer. Now, most Japanese tend to think that not informing patients of their diagnosis of cancer implies telling a lie and an untruth, a deception, a trick, a lack of a relationship of mutual trust, etc. In this paper, however, I argue that refusing to inform patients of their diagnosis of cancer can be advantageous depending on the circumstances, in opposition to the current thought of the times. For humans can naturally have the knowledge of the time of one's death, though they are never informed of it by others. We don't necessarily need to give the objective/scientific knowledge priority over the natural knowledge. Essentially, death cannot be controlled by one's own will power. Leaving a matter of life and death to Nature that transcends man's own will power can also be a style of accepting one's death.